Viewed from one aspect, the present invention provides gaming apparatus including: a component for monitoring gameplay; a component for monitoring the occurrence of a game event; and an event guarantee component for guaranteeing that a game event will trigger within a set amount of gameplay, the event guarantee component including: a trigger component for triggering a game event when the set guarantee gameplay amount is reached without the monitored event having been triggered, and an indicator component for indicating the amount of gameplay remaining to be played before a guaranteed game event will trigger.
Gameplay measurement can be based on e.g. the number of games played, e.g. the number of spins of a slot machine or the number of hands of a card game played, or the amount of bets laid, e.g. the amount of credits laid, the amount of lines or hands played, or some other parameter indicative of an amount of gameplay.
A game event may be of any suitable kind. It may be a type of win event or a type of feature event.
A win event may for example relate to a win of a particular amount, e.g. a win over a set amount, or could relate to a win under a particular circumstance, e.g. a flush or the like at poker or a set combination of slot machine reel symbols. It could also relate to a jackpot win, which could be e.g. for a stand-alone or linked jackpot system, and of a fixed or progressive kind.
A feature event could relate to the occurrence of a particularly valuable play element, such as a wild card or wild symbol. It could further relate to a bonus or extra event that provides some added benefit to the player and/or game interest. It could for example be a free play scenario, a respin, a pick‘n’ win, or a game play that returns higher than usual wins. It may be a “second-screen” type feature, which may involve a play that is extraneous to a main or basic game. The feature event could be e.g. a luck or skills-based feature.
The present invention provides a way of increasing the interest of a game. It provides a guarantee feature that can be of benefit to a gaming machine operator in that it promotes the use of the operator's machines, and can be of benefit to users who can know that an event of benefit to the user will indeed occur within an indicated amount of gameplay.
The monitored event and the guaranteed event are preferably the same type of event, so that a user knows that for example if a “4 of a kind” does not occur normally within a set time, then it will definitely occur at the end of the set amount of gameplay, or for example that a “free game” will definitely occur by a set amount of gameplay and will possibly occur beforehand.
The monitored and guaranteed events do not however have to relate to the same event, and indeed a specific event need not be specified. For example, the monitored event and/or guaranteed event may be one of a number of possible events, so that for example if none of the possible events occurs within a set amount of gameplay, then one of a number of these or other events will be triggered to occur.
The event guarantee indicator may take any suitable form. It may be a numerical display that provides a countdown from an initial gameplay amount, or it may take the form of a gauge, e.g. with a pointer and scale. It may specify the specific event that is guaranteed or the type of event.
The amount of gameplay required for the guarantee to trigger may be determined in any suitable manner. It may for example be a set amount or may be determined randomly (e.g. within a set range), and/or may be varied in accordance with gameplay, e.g. depending on the winnings or bets taken over a preceding period of play.
Preferably, the guarantee gameplay amount will be reset when a monitored event occurs during normal play or when the guaranteed event occurs, and the indicator will e.g. be reset to an initial gameplay amount. When reset, the guaranteed event may take a different form from that of the previous guarantee. This may be determined randomly or in accordance with a preset sequence and/or may vary based on previous gameplay.
Normal triggering of the monitored feature, i.e. before the guarantee gameplay amount has been reached, may occur in any suitable manner. It may for example occur randomly, and/or on the basis of a particular set of circumstances, and/or over an accumulation of plays. It may also occur in relation to a device supplemental to the game itself, e.g. the triggering of a jackpot in a linked jackpot system.
Preferably, the apparatus includes a component for determining the play parameters for the guarantee feature. Thus, when a bonus game or the like is triggered, the play parameters may be e.g. the number of lines or hands played and the amount bet on each line or hand. When a win event is triggered, the play parameters may be the amount paid out or the win type.
The play parameters may be determined based on a user's play history, and may be an average of a user's play parameters over time, e.g. whilst the guarantee gameplay amount was accumulating. It could also be set to a specific value, or be determined randomly (e.g. within a set range). It could also or alternatively be varied based on a user's own bet requirements, e.g. a user may supplement or vary the bet.
The guarantee indicator may display the play parameters that are to be used in the guarantee feature, and these may update as a user plays.
In one preferred embodiment, the gaming system may provide more than one guarantee feature, and may include more than one event guarantee indicator. Thus, one indicator may display the amount of gameplay remaining until one event is guaranteed to trigger, and another indicator may indicate the amount of gameplay remaining until another event is guaranteed to trigger.
More than two guarantee features may also be used. These guarantee features may be reset independently or together.
A guarantee feature indicator may also change the feature that it is monitoring with time, e.g. in view of a particular play circumstance or the like, e.g. in the case of games that may alter possible feature or win events during play.
The present invention may be applied to any suitable type of gaming system or platform. It can apply to stand-alone gaming apparatus, e.g. electronic gaming machines, such as video gaming machines, to gaming machines that are linked together, e.g. via a network such as an intranet, and/or to gaming systems provided through computing or other electronic devices, e.g. personal computers, PDAs, mobile telephones, digital televisions, and the like, e.g. over the Internet or other communications networks.
The present invention may be applied to gaming apparatus that plays any suitable game, e.g. slot-machine type games, poker, keno, blackjack, bingo, roulette, pachinko, or the like.
When part of a network, the guarantee feature of a particular gaming device may be based on gameplay only of that particular device or may be based on the gameplay of other linked devices as well, e.g. all of the devices that are taking part'in a particular linked game or a subset of them. The guarantee feature may guarantee an event to an individual device or may guarantee an event to one of a number of the devices.
In networked games, the apparatus may include a central control for conducting games and managing the accounting and the like, and a number of remote terminals/clients that provide user input and display mechanisms. The control of the feature guarantee may be carried out at the central control or at the remote terminals, or may be split between the two. For example the central control may control all features of an indicator on a remote screen, or the central control could set up the initial indicator parameters for a remote screen, and the feature guarantee could then be controlled directly by the remote terminal software without receiving any further direct instruction from the central control.
The present invention extends to central controls/servers and to remote terminals/clients that are configured to carry out the feature guarantee of the present invention.